Good morning! If this is your first time gathering with Citylight Church, my name is Matt and I’m one of the pastors of the church. This morning I want to talk to you about what to do with the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. I want to talk to you about what to do with it. I don’t so much want to try to prove to you that Jesus did actually rise from the grave. I’ve done that in years past and it’s important. If you would like a short, readable resource on the historic plausibility of the Lord Jesus Christ’s resurrection, please pick up a free copy of Rebecca McLaughlin’s book Is Easter Unbelievable. But today I don’t want to defend the resurrection, rather I want to talk to you about what to do with it.

What do we do with Jesus’ resurrection from the grave? To answer that question, I want to turn to a letter contained in the New Testament that was written by one of the very first eye-witnesses who saw Jesus after his resurrection from the grave. Who better to tell us what to do with the resurrection of Jesus than a man who followed Jesus for three years, then after Jesus was arrested, denied even knowing Jesus just to save his own skin, but whose entire life changed that Sunday when a few women told him that Jesus’ tomb was empty and he saw Jesus resurrected from the dead with his own eyes? Who better to tell us what to do with the resurrection than one of the very first eye-witnesses, a man named Peter?

What does Peter tell us to do with the resurrection? 1 Peter 1:3 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. What do we do with the resurrection? The answer is the big idea of our passage this morning: Bless God for raising Jesus from the dead. What do we do with the resurrection? We bless God for raising Jesus from the dead. Now, what does it mean to bless God? I thought God was the one who did the blessing?! The word translated “bless” is also where we get our English word “eulogize.” So, think of a funeral eulogy when a beloved relative is honored, even praised for the life they’ve lived and what they’ve done. That’s what it means to bless someone. We bless God – we honor, love, and praise Him – for what he has done: He raised Jesus from the dead. And we bless God for raising Jesus from the dead with both our lips and our lives. We praise Him with our lips and we honor Him with all of our lives because he raised Jesus from the dead. But why? Why should we do that with the resurrection? Why should we bless God with our lips and our lives for raising Jesus from the dead? This morning we are going to explore three reasons: The resurrection brings: (1) new birth (2) living hope (3) unshakeable joy.

NEW BIRTH

My wife Andrea and I have two kids and if you’re new to Citylight I want to tell you something special about Sage. Sage wasn’t born in a hospital or a birth center like most kids. Though I drove really fast, we couldn’t get to the hospital in time and Andrea gave birth to Sage on the front seat of our car at the red light, in the middle lane at Broad and Arch Street Center City Philadelphia without any help from anyone but me.

As crazy as that was, if you have made Jesus your only hope in life and in death, if you receive and rest in Jesus alone for the forgiveness of your sins, you’ve experienced something more radical than that. You’ve been born a second time! 1 Peter 1:3 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again … If you’ve trusted in Jesus as your only hope in life and death, you’ve been born a second time. The Bible says that we were born dead and we deserve eternal death and judgment for all of our disobeying and ignoring God in the world he created. But God loved us so much that he gave his Son to die in our place – to take the eternal death penalty that we deserve. But that’s not even the best part. The best part is that Jesus bodily rose from the dead so that we can be born a second time to eternal life instead of eternal death. We bless God for raising Jesus from the dead because Jesus rose to give us new birth!

I’d like to tell you something really important about Jesus? Jesus did not die and rise to make you a better person. Jesus did not die and rise so that you can go from bad to good or immoral to religious. Jesus did not die and rise to give you a hand up to help you go to a good college, land a great job, enjoy financial security, have a happy marriage, and be a productive change agent in our world. Jesus did not even die and rise so that you could get serious about your faith. Jesus lived, died and rose to make dead people alive. That’s worth blessing God for! What do we do with the resurrection of Jesus? We bless God for raising Jesus from the dead and the first reason why is because He rose to give us new birth. The second reason why we bless God for raising Jesus from the dead is…

LIVING HOPE

1 Peter 1:3-4 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, [4] to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, [5] who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

According to Forbes, Bernard Arnault (Pronounced: Arno) is currently the wealthiest man in the world, with well over $200B. He oversees the LVMH empire of some 70 fashion and cosmetics brands, including Louis Vuitton and Sephora. Arnault has five children. What happens when Arnault has a baby? That child gets an inheritance. They’re going to be super rich. But they don’t get their inheritance right away. No, they have to wait! But as rich as Arnault is, eventually, sooner or later, his money and his kids’ inheritance will be gone. The inheritance won’t last forever.

But when God gives you new birth through Jesus rising from the grave, you become God’s adopted son or daughter, and the inheritance waiting for us will last forever and will never lose its luster. That’s our living hope. Our living hope isn’t like my “hope” that the Sixers win the NBA title – uncertain. Our living hope is a future inheritance that is ours as newborn children of God that is so certain that Peter describes it as: imperishable, undefiled, and unfading to describe its certainty. The inheritance that Arnault will leave his children will one day fade and even before it fades it will likely lose its luster. Our inheritance is imperishable – it can’t die or go away. Our inheritance is undefiled – it can’t spoil or lose its luster and beauty. Our inheritance is unfading – it will always last because it’s being kept in heaven for you. It’s not gonna end and, don’t worry, you won’t want it to. What is this inheritance? One day Jesus will return and bring all who trust in Him home forever to a new heaven and a new earth where every tear is wiped away and we experience joy unspeakable forever instead of the eternal sadness that we deserve. And Peter says that God himself guards our inheritance. It’s that sure. That’s why we bless God for raising Jesus from the dead. We bless God for raising Jesus from the dead because Jesus rose to give us new birth, living hope, and third and finally…

UNSHAKEABLE JOY

1 Peter 1:3-6 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, [4] to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials…

Can I ask you a personal question? What is the toughest thing in your life right now? What’s most challenging, most confusing, most unknown, most frustrating, or really sad for you? Keep that in the back of your mind. The last reason why we bless God for raising Jesus from the grave is because the resurrection gives us unshakeable joy even in the most challenging, frustrating, and saddest times.

How does that work? Remember Jesus rose to give us living hope – an eternal inheritance. And when you have forever hope, that future hope invades your present – no matter how bad it is – and produces unshakeable joy. Living, future hope has the power to reach back into the present and provide unshakeable joy while you suffer various trials. One of the most wonderful examples of living hope producing unshakeable joy is a woman named Joni Earickson Tada. In 1967, at the age of seventeen, Joni went to swim in the Chesapeake Bay as she had many times before. She dove into the water, but it was far shallower than she expected. She hit her head and her life changed instantly and permanently as she became a quadriplegic. Though Joni has lived through almost sixty years of chronic pain and two severe bouts with cancer, Joni is one of the most joyful, selfless, and fruitful Christian women you’ll ever find. She has started and leads an organization whose vision is a world where every person with a disability finds hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ. What’s the explanation for her unshakeable joy and extraordinarily fruitful life? In an interview just after her second cancer diagnosis, Joni answered that question and she said, “My soul has become so much more settled. My hope is more anchored in Christ and in heaven…I believe every response I give to this new cancer, every inconvenience, and every pain has a direct bearing to increasing my capacity for joy, service, and worship in heaven.” Her joy is unshakeable because her joy isn’t based on her present circumstances, but her living hope – a coming inheritance that is imperishable. And that joy is yours through Jesus’ resurrection. That’s why we bless God for it.

CONCLUSION

What should we do with the resurrection? Bless God for raising Jesus from the grave. Through the resurrection he has given all who trust in Christ new birth, living hope, and unshakeable joy. Bless Him – with your lips and your lives. Bless Him with your lips by raising your voice and giving Him praise and returning next to do the same. He is worthy to be blessed with your lips, but also bless him with your life. Live all of life to please Him and make Him known because he has given you new birth, living hope, and unshakeable joy. But the first and most important way we bless God is by receiving the new birth that he offers you through the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. The Bible says that there is rejoicing in heaven when one sinner repents – it blesses God. The first and best way to bless God is by receiving the new birth that he offers to you through raising Jesus from the dead. The bad news is that you were born dead in your sins and you deserve eternal death and eternal judgment because you have disobeyed and ignored God in the world he created. You are dead in your sins, your hopes are only temporary, and you are destined for eternal sadness, not joy. But today you can receive new birth. Today you can put your trust in Jesus who died for your sins and rose to give you new life, living hope, and unshakeable joy. I would like to give you a quiet minute or two to choose before we bless God by taking communion and singing his praises. Will you choose new life in Christ or eternal death? Will you choose living hope or hopelessness that never ends? Will you choose unshakeable joy or eternal sadness? I plead with you turn to Jesus and receive Him as your only hope in life and in death. There is a sample prayer on your connect card that help give you language for doing that and be sure to let us know that you did because we would like to pray for you and help you in any way. Bless God for raising Jesus from the dead.